Instinctively, I leaned toward her brightly colored crimson red lips in anticipation of our first kiss. She seemed lost in the moment as her eyes became fixated on me. She then placed her right hand gently on top of my left hand and moved in so that our lips were barely touching. She has those Hollywood starlet lips that most women (and all men) would die for. At that moment, I became aware of her irresistible perfume. Strangely, it wasn’t just my olfactory receptors that were engulfed by her scent, but all my other senses were also short-circuited by her striking beauty. Then the kiss came, and my eyes went shut as if my body knew to close down my visual sense so that it could heighten the sensation of kissing this beautiful creature. I’ve read that the eyes are the portals through which electromagnetic radiation from our environment enters the visual system. That day, Thanh Hà and her electromagnetic red dress became the universe of my entire visual system.
As we kissed, our project director moved swiftly around us and clicked his gargantuan camera in a frantic pace without uttering a sound. His rapid-fire clicking gave off the impression that he saw something magical through his lens that had to be captured. Thanh Hà would later confess that she had her eyes wide open during the kissing scene because she is one of those visual types that like to see everything, even if it was only pretend kissing with her co-star.
As I reluctantly backed away from her, I noticed that her steely blue eyes were giving off a sort of dreamy, possessed gaze. It was like she was somehow taken in by the mysteriousness of the forest surrounding us on that hazy afternoon in Southern California. We were lovers in the camera's eye, and she played her part skillfully. Perhaps it was fitting that just a few hours earlier, an earthquake of a 5.4 magnitude shook up Los Angeles (and our entire crew), in part to mark the beginning of an artsy project that casted Thanh Hà, Kỳ Duyên, and me in a mysterious love triangle with deadly twists and turns.
I met Thanh Hà just a few days earlier. Not knowing how I looked like in person, she decided to join a mutual friend of ours to come and pick me up at LAX airport. She said that she knew that I was a writer for Kyduyenhouse.com, but nothing else. She probably surmised that writers are only good for reading, but for kissing in front of the camera? She must have had her doubts. Auspiciously, she hadn’t read my “How to date a famous Viet singer” article…so luck was already on my side.
Thanh Hà and my friend were caught in typical afternoon LA traffic so I was waiting on the curbside of the terminal when they arrived. They purposely parked the car about 20 yards away and Thanh Hà got out and walked up to me and jokingly said that my friend couldn’t make it and that she alone made the long drive to see me. How fortunate, I thought. She then held out her hand and introduced herself as Thanh Hà, like there was a real chance that someone like me, who specializes in spilling Viet celebs’ secrets, did not know who she was. It just happens that most people I know would agree that she is one of the most beautiful singers that ever took the stage of Paris By Night, and that’s saying aplenty, given Thúy Nga’s 25-year history and the number of attractive women that they had on every show. As I shook her hand, I knew that my next four days would be quite an adventure.
To make myself useful, I took over the driving duty and we all headed to a trendy restaurant in Laguna Beach to meet up with Kỳ Duyên and Trúc Linh for dinner and to discuss the next day’s Kyduyenhouse road trip to Napa Valley. Kỳ Duyên looked gorgeous and classy as always, and Trúc Linh seemed younger and even more dazzling than the last time I saw her. So there I was, across the country from home, surrounded by three amazingly beautiful women, and all I could think was…why haven’t I moved to California?
Thanh Hà became an instant sensation in the Viet community in the early 1990s with her distinct European features and a strong voice to match. Unlike American singers who sing Vietnamese like Dalena and Lynn, Thanh Hà is a true Viet chick who grew up in Viet Nam just like all of us. And who couldn’t resist a cross between Sharon Stone and Michelle Pfeiffer for a Viet singer?
Although most people nowadays would feel blessed with having beautiful white skin and blonde hair, she recounted that it was quite hard for her growing up looking different around other Viet kids. Thus, as soft spoken as she appears, she actually is a tough cookie. She said that those earlier experiences toughened her up, and that toughness surely came in handy in the ultra competitive Viet entertainment industry.
We spent the next day on a memorable road trip to San Jose with half of the Kyduyenhouse crew in tow. Thanh Hà, along with guitarist Mina, who is also an operations manager for KDH, kept us entertained throughout the 7-hour drive with strings of unforgettable medleys. We visited Napa Valley for some wine tasting the next day and came back to a surprise treat of full body massages by the wonderful staff of A Perfect Day Spa. How appropriate…
The next day, Thanh Hà and I drove Kỳ Duyên to her Thuy Nga gig in San Jose and we hung out backstage with other artists for a few hours before we all drove back to our hosts’ home in San Jose for a much needed rest.
The following day, we packed our gears and bid adieu to our gracious hosts and headed back to LA to prepare for the next day’s photo-shoot. Thanh Hà had to catch a flight instead because she did not feel well. However, while she was waiting for her flight, she changed her mind and called us and begged us to circle back to the airport to pick her up because she said she missed us already. While we would have loved to have her back for the long drive, Kỳ Duyên reasoned that our motion-sickness-prone starlet was in no condition to endure another 7 hours of sitting in a car. In addition, we really needed her to look great for the next day’s project…so, after some verbal pouting, Thanh Hà caved in and boarded her flight.
The trip back was uneventful without our star singer and we arrived safely in LA for some wine, cheese, and music at Kỳ Duyên’s home. This time, we all took turn singing a song or two. As expected, Thanh Hà dominated the entertainment portion with her sensual voice and cute stories of how her singing career began to take shape while she was a teenager in a refugee camp in the Philippines. She used to love those showers of candies and chewing gums that are thrown on stage by the adoring fans, and she would pick up the candies and used the bottom of her dress as a makeshift bag to hold her rewards while holding the microphone with the other hand! I was getting drawn in by her charms with every story that she was telling and with every playful glance that she gave. Heaven can wait, I thought to myself…
Our next day’s photo-shoot began quite early around 7 AM and lasted until almost 5 PM. We had Travis, a celebrity make-up artist, traveled with us to apply and reapply make-up after every scene. Both Thanh Hà and Kỳ Duyên were truly darlings to work with throughout the project and they gave no hints of being top celebrities at the height of their careers. Unfortunately, I found myself racing against the clock because I had to catch a red-eye flight back to Washington later on that night. I was tempted (and encouraged by my two co-stars) to change to the next day’s flight so that we all could head out to celebrate afterward. And for reasons unbeknownst to me, I never made that call to change my flight. May be I was afraid that I was falling for her, may be I thought that 4 days with Thanh Hà were all that the Big Guy upstairs allotted to me.
As we were saying our goodbyes, Thanh Hà reached in her bag and pulled out her latest CD (Ru Lòng Khờ Dại) to give to me. Inside the cover she wrote, “I’ll remember you”… and you know what? I believe every word of it, because she kissed me again...
Duy Hân
August, 2008
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 Duy Hân is a senior analyst in the advertising department of a large financial organization. He received his B.S. from the University of Maryland and is a recent MBA graduate. He lives in the Washington DC area and has a beagle named Alaska that likes to take long walks on the beach. He can be reached at AskDuyHan@gmail.com
Other articles by Duy Hân:
1. How to date a famous Viet singer
2. Things girls should never do while on a date
3. 7 Things You Don't Know About Viet Guys
4. 4 Secrets Viet Celebrities Don't Want You To Know
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